Putin calls for adopting ten year research programs

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has demanded 10 year research programs from scientific institutions and pledged to increase multifold the financing of research funds by 2018.

“Ten year programs of fundamental and basic research should be approved for the Russian Academy of Sciences, leading research universities and state-run research centers,” he wrote in his article published in the Vedomosti daily on Monday.

At the same time he noted that “such programs should be defended and regular reports on the programs’ implementation should be made not to officials of the Education and Science Ministry, but to tax payers and the scientific community through attraction of authoritative international experts,” Putin said noting that the authorities should be directly reported on defence-related developments.

He assured that the government “will raise the financing of state research funds that support research teams’ initiatives several times - to 25 billion roubles in 2018.”

“Research grants should be compatible to those provided to scientists in the west,” Putin said.

The head of government noted that “it is necessary to take further efforts to include Russia’s research centres, universities and enterprises into international mechanisms of research result capitalization.”

Putin stressed the need for “overcoming inertness of the big domestic capital that - let’s have it straight - became disaccustomed to innovation projects, research and development efforts.”

“Now 47 companies with state participation adopted innovation programs. However, private corporations should get accustomed to injecting 3-5 percent of their gross revenues to research and development as well,” he said. “It is necessary to develop relevant tax instruments, but the main thing is for private business owners to realize that without this they will not be simply perceived as equal participants on the global market.”